And she's going for two. (a.k.a. Big Dreams Blog Update Day #1)

Happy Belated Update Day!

Okay, so technically this post was to go live yesterday, but here I am!

About two months ago, I signed up on this Big Dreams Blog set up and hosted by the lovely authors, Beth Fred and Misha Gericke.  These ladies have their own crazy impressive goals, and then there’s another 16 of us who have similar craziness goings on.  But we’re all rooting for each other, and in one of those ways we update every last Friday of the month with our progress towards our goals thus far.

As you might have noticed, I didn’t really update last month.  Or the month before that (FYI, I signed up on August 15^th)…

Anyways, I plan to start giving myself that extra kick in the butt.  The whole point of this Update Day is accountability.  You’d be surprised by how many people will actually do what they say if they say it publically.  I know these things, it’s all part of social psychology (trust me, I’m a psych undergrad).

So, yeah, what was my goal?  I already mentioned it in my first official post, but in case you’re tl;dr, here’s the short version:

I want to write 1000000 words.

Yikes!  That’s a lot of zeroes.  But I think this is a great way to help me keep myself on my toes.  Of course, I didn’t explain what parameters I’ve set up that will count towards this Leviathan word goal in that first post, so I’ll list them now.

1)  All of the words should be towards projects I’ve either completed or I’m in the process of completing.  So basically what this does is make sure I don’t find loopholes where I’m also tallying half-finished projects.  Cool beans?

2)  No, writing on this blog doesn’t count towards the one million.  I know there are some writers who do this type of thing, say, for the upcoming NaNoWriMo, and that’s great for them!  Seriously, especially as I’m still getting used to managing my own posting and whatnot.  But on a personal level that’s not what I’m aiming for here.

3)  Fanfictiion does count!  This point directly relates to my current WIP.  Yes.  I am writing a fanfiction.  Why?  Because I think it’s a safe place for me now.  But right now all that’s necessary is that I am counting both fanfiction and original works towards my one million.  (I will have a separate post addressing this in the near future.  I promise)

All righty—that’s what I have so far, but I might think up of more rules…  I’m more surprised I didn’t outline these to start with, but hey, I did now, right?  J

Now I bet you’re all wondering since I started this project back on August 15^th:  where is she at so far?

*insert appropriate drum roll here*

0.

Yes, you read that correctly.  Zero, nada, zilch, zippy-poop.  Nothing.  Actually, I did have 121K towards said fanfiction WIP; however, long story short I decided to slash my wordcount and start from near-scratch.  (I’ve kept like 10K of scenes I couldn’t part with.)

Why am I not counting this 121K?  It’s because it violates Rule #1 (see above, in case you’ve forgotten).  Despite not using valuing this amount towards my goal of one million; nevertheless, I did learn much more than I thought I would! 

For instance, I learned I’m not really an outliner or a pantser—I’m more of a, to use the word of one author, “planter”.  I fall in the middle.  I definitely need some sort of outline to keep my on track, remind me of what I’m heading towards story-wise, BUT that outline can’t be crazy long either and so minutely detailed.  Otherwise I actually lose my focus.  

I like to think of this as a parabolic relationship where at the first end of the spectrum you have easy story problem and unsatisfactory emotional payoff and at the other end, difficult problem and also unsatisfying payoff.  The big yellow star is the optimal zone of average difficulty problem and highest payoff (more on this later as well).

I also learned I don't do writing out of order.  I know there are some writer tips that tell you to go ahead and jump to the scenes you're itching to write if you're stuck, but that doesn't work for me.  I spend so much time after trying to piece scenes together, and...ugh.  Yeah. I tried it and now I know that just doesn't work for me.

That’s all I really have now in terms of updating.  Next month I’ll hopefully have a better result.  (I should probably clarify that I’m not entering the NaNoWriMo.  But good luck to all who try!  I’ll be rooting each of you on.)

-Henke

And what a Thanks I'd like to give.

I KNEW this day would come.

So there's some people I'd like to thank...

*kidding*

But seriously.  What's the occasion?  Can't I post a blog in honour of Canadian Thanksgiving, eh? :)  I don't do this often...actually this is the first time I'm doing this.  But I like to think this holiday offers something more than a day off from school.  

(Though I totally appreciate the day off from school.)

What am I thankful for this year?

Well, first I'm grateful for my health.  You know, the usual stuff.  There were some distant family losses and it really put it into perspective just how much I've come to appreciate life.

And part of that appreciation includes doing the things I like.  For instance, writing.  If you happen to be part of my immediate family--ha.--you'll know I've been saying that I'm going to write a book one day.

That official announcement came 4-5 years ago, and since 2009 I haven't finished a single  project.  Not even one.  But every day over that near-half decade I'd wake up with a renewed resolve to start the story that I'd finish.  The thing is, as you smart people have already put together I'm sure, a "full-length" novel isn't written in one day.  Had I been writing a short story I might have followed Poe's advice and skipped off to write a short story worthy of a single sitting.

But I didn't want to write a short story.  (And I still don't want to write a short story.)

Back then--right now, I want to conquer the dreaded novel.  However, I decided a new approach was necessary.  And because I'm totally lazy I'll just go ahead and put the rest of my journey in point form:

end of June 2013:

-decide to start small and work my way to the big mountain and I roll my sleeves up in preparation for my 30K run in the coming CampNaNo; my goal was to write a novella fanfic (something around that ~30K)

July 2013:

-half-ass particupation in CampNaNo, and I give up on the 30K goal by the 3rd day.  Yeah.  And all I have for my half-week effort is 903 words.  *facepalm at my crappy resolve*

July 19th, 2013:

-on this day I came home from a night class and I'm butt-tired, getting prepared for exams and last-minute writing of a critique report for said class; however, instead of focusing on my school work, I get a spark for a new direction to tackle the fanfic idea; I write 527 words,

the rest of July, 2013:

-CampNaNo ends and I'm 8000 words short of the 30K goal.  (I tried.  Really I did!  I wrote every day.)  Also I learn that this fanfic isn't going to be short, and I maybe....maybe should have outlined beforehand.

August-October 2013:

-I'd like to say I wrote every day, but over this near 2.5 months I tallied 13 days where I succumbed to the blasted sparkly new ideas.;  I hit 50K (for the first time ever!) on September 13th, and I write a blog post to preserve the milestone if you want to click on over for that.

October 14th, 2013 (today!):

-Hit....*drumroll*...100K.

So what am I grateful for you ask?  I'm grateful for the chance to hit 100K, and I owe it to my health, my family and a lot of online people, who don't know I virtually stalk them, within the reading/writing community.

What now?  Well, to be honest, I'm not any closer to finishing this fanfic, BUT I'm hoping to update with the news of that soon.  Like next month soon.  (Blogging once a month makes that feasible.)  And now I have all of you to hold me to a promise to hit "THE END".

*turns mic*

Now what are you all Thankful for?  (Well, at least those of you who are on this side of the International Boundary.)